Browning and the Dramatic MonologueCurry, S. S. (Samuel Silas)
History
Browning and the Dramatic Monologue
Curry, S. S. (Samuel Silas)
Browning, Robert, 1812-1889 -- Criticism and interpretation; Dramatic monologues -- History and criticism
When we have once pictured Caliban definitely in our minds with his
"saith" and "thinketh," we perceive the analogy which he establishes after
the manner of men between his own low nature and that of deity.
To read such a work without a definite conception of the character
talking, makes utter nonsense of the reading. Every sentiment and feeling
in the poem regarding God is dramatic. However deep or profound the lesson
conveyed, it is entirely indirect.
How different is the story of the glove and King Francis, as treated by
Leigh Hunt, from its interpretation by Browning! Leigh Hunt centres
everything in the sequence of events and the simple statement of facts.
"King Francis was a hearty king, and loved a royal sport,
And one day as his lions fought, sat looking on the court."
But Browning! He chooses a distinct character, Peter Ronsard, a poet, to
tell the story, and adopts a totally different point of view, centring all
in the speaker's justification of the woman who threw the glove.
Practically the same facts are told; even the King's words are almost
identical with those given by Hunt:
"'Twas mere vanity,
Not love, set that task to humanity!"
and he gives the ordinary point of view:
"Lords and ladies alike turned with loathing
From such a proved wolf in sheep's clothing."
But human character and motive is given a deeper interpretation and the
poet does not accept their views:
"Not so, I; for I caught the expression
In her brow's undisturbed self-possession
Amid the court's scoffing and merriment;--
As if from no pleasing experiment,
She rose, yet of pain not much heedful
So long as the process was needful."
The poet followed her and asked what it all meant, and if she did not wish
to recall her rash deed.
"For I, so I spoke, am a poet,
Human nature,--behooves that I know it!"
So he tells you she explained that he had vowed and boasted what he would
do, and she felt that she would put him to the test. Browning represents
her as rejecting Delorge, whose admiration was shown by this incident to
be superficial, and as marrying a humble but true-hearted lover.
"The Ring and the Book" illustrates possibly more amply than any other
poem the peculiar dramatic force of the monologue.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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